South Jersey Sports Weekly is a publication that launched in April. It’s produced by Sun Newspapers and appears in the physical copy within the Suns throughout South Jersey (in Moorestown, Medford, Cherry Hill, Washington Township, Deptford, etc). each Wednesday. Most of the content also appears online. The weekly, online notebook will provide you with even more of the content within SJSW’s physical pages.

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Becoming the best team in the state in any high school sport is difficult. Staying there over the course of an entire season is even harder.

Moorestown Friends girls tennis has been the state’s No. 1-ranked team since winning the Moorestown Classic more than a month ago. They will try to cap off the year as New Jersey’s top team Wednesday afternoon in the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions final. The two-time Non-Public B state champions will battle No. 3 East Brunswick at 2 p.m. at the Garden State Tennis Center in Edison.

The Foxes enter today’s match with a perfect 21-0 record and have won every match this season by a score of either 4-1 or 5-0. Check back with South Jersey Sports Weekly next week for a full story on Moorestown Friends’ historic 2019 season.

While the favored Foxes are mowing down the opposition in girls tennis, the South Jersey Soccer Coaches Association tournament has seen a few upsets. On the boys side, top-seeded St. Augustine was stunned by Moorestown, 2-0, on Monday. The Quakers will take on Kingsway in tonight’s semifinal.

The other boys semifinal features another low seed. No. 11 Washington Township won a pair of games on the road against Haddon Township and Egg Harbor Township to reach the third round. The Minutemen will take on No. 2 Clearview tonight in a rematch of a September meeting between the two clubs that ended in a scoreless tie.

There’s been few upsets in the SJSCA girls tournament as the top four seeds reached the semifinals. Undefeated No. 1 Eastern will face off with No. 4 Shawnee for the third time this season in one semifinal. The other semifinal will feature No. 2 Rancocas Valley and No. 3 Ocean City.

The semifinal winners tonight will advance to the SJSCA championship games. They will take place at the DeCou Field Complex in Cherry Hill on Saturday at 6 p.m.

SJSW Player of the Week

Kate Rathman
Cherokee High School
Senior
Cross Country

Kate Rathman is off and running, literally, in her final varsity season. She ran a time of 18:46.02, the second fastest time in school history, in the South Jersey Open Division 3 race, also the fastest time of the day. Earlier in the month, she was also one of four South Jersey runners to finish under 20 minutes at the Shore Coaches Invitational at Holmdel with the third fastest time in school history at the prestigious race.

“Kate’s win this past weekend was big for her,” Cherokee head coach Mark Jarvis said. “It’s just her second 5K this season and she ran the fastest she’s ever run at Delsea. I can’t believe her four years with us is almost over. She has some big goals set up for herself as she gears up for the championship part of the season. She is truly the type of athlete coaches love to coach. Her work ethic and example she shows in practice has certainly taken our program to new heights.”

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Games to Watch: Oct. 23 – Oct. 29

Wednesday, Oct. 23
Cross Country: Burlington County Divisional Meet
Races begin at 3:30 p.m. at New Egypt High School

Wednesday, Oct. 23
Gymnastics: Olympic Conference Championships
5 p.m. at Cherokee High School

Friday, Oct. 25
Football: Williamstown at Shawnee
7 p.m. at Shawnee High School

Saturday, Oct. 26
Boys and Girls Soccer: SJSCA Tournament Finals
6 p.m. at DeCou Field Complex in Cherry Hill

Tuesday, Oct. 29
Girls Volleyball: Moorestown at Paul VI
5:15 p.m. at Paul VI High School

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 Scenes from Last Week

Girls Tennis: Lenape vs. Cherry Hill East
All photos: RYAN LAWRENCE/South Jersey Sports Weekly

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Girls Tennis: Shawnee vs. Moorestown
All photos: MIKE MONOSTRA/South Jersey Sports Weekly

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Girls Tennis: Seneca vs. Haddonfield
All photos: RYAN LAWRENCE/South Jersey Sports Weekly

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Field Hockey: Washington Twp. vs. Bishop Eustace
All photos: RYAN LAWRENCE/South Jersey Sports Weekly

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ICYMI: Stories from Last Week

• Four South Jersey girls tennis teams were crowned as sectional champions last Tuesday. South Jersey Sports Weekly was on hand for three of those matches, as Cherry Hill East, Haddonfield and Moorestown all added more hardware to their already packed trophy cases.
• Camden Catholic’s Olivia Bent-Cole may only be 14 years old, but she’s already establishing herself as one of South Jersey’s best field hockey players. Bent-Cole talks about her breakout freshman season and looks ahead to the Irish’s upcoming playoff run.
• South Jersey took notice early this season as Triton girls soccer got off to a hot start with wins in seven of its first 10 games. Now, the Mustangs have their sights set on the playoffs and winning the program’s first postseason game in a decade.

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